


Family Dinner

by Sun_Moon_Stars_Jedi



Series: Vignettes from the Harper-Todd Household [2]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Red Hood/Arsenal (Comics)
Genre: Batfamily (DCU), Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Domestic Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Jason and Roy are good dads, Lian Is Precious, M/M, even if sometimes things go wrong
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:41:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25533784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sun_Moon_Stars_Jedi/pseuds/Sun_Moon_Stars_Jedi
Summary: Lian is behaving strangely at the monthly family dinner and Jason prays his family can let a mystery go unsolved, just this once.
Relationships: Roy Harper/Jason Todd
Series: Vignettes from the Harper-Todd Household [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1973860
Comments: 24
Kudos: 461





	Family Dinner

The car ride to the Manor was unusually quiet. Jason was driving, shooting occasional glances at Roy in the passenger seat and Lian in the back. While the little girl would have normally talked their ears off, chattering about the great food Alfred would no doubt prepare, her excitement to play with Titus and cuddle Alfred (the cat), and all the new things she had learned in preschool and was eager to tell Bruce and Dick and everyone else about, today she was silently staring out the window with a thunderous expression.

Jason sighed internally at her behaviour, but one look at her father told him exactly where Lian had learned it from. Because even though his boyfriend wasn’t purposely ignoring everyone else in the car like his five-year-old, he was also in a mood and staring out into the rain.

Honestly, Jason thought, and people were calling _him_ the dramatic one.

When they arrived Jason parked in the garage attached to the main house and as he got out Roy was already opening the back door, leaning into the car to undo Lian’s seatbelt and get her out of her booster seat. His daughter however slapped his hands away and squirmed back.

“No,” she declared, staring furiously up at Roy, “I don’t want _you_ to get me out, I want Jayjay.”

Jason saw Roy freeze for a moment before he straightened back up and stepped away from the car with a deep sigh.

“Okay sweetie,” he said and his expression was so pained all Jason wanted to do was take him into his arms and somehow fix this, but instead he only squeezed his side in passing and then leaned into the car.

“Lian, your daddy didn’t do anything wrong,” he said while he opened the seatbelt and helped her pull the strap back. He had told her the same thing countless times since last night, had tried to explain, they both had, but Lian just didn’t want to believe them.

“He was bad, I saw it,” she said, scowling fiercely up at him, and normally that expression would have been adorable, but today it only caused Jason to pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration.

“Come on, princess.”

Lian climbed out, pointedly reaching for Jason’s hand and pulling him towards the entrance to the Manor without deigning to give her father even another look. Jason let himself get dragged into the house, giving Roy a sympathetic glance as they passed him.

In the hallway leading to the kitchen Jason could hear the loud chatter of his family and when they entered he found all his brothers already present, on time for the monthly family dinner.

Lian got livelier and chatty once Dick had hugged her and was asking about her friends from preschool, so Jason went over to help Alfred with the dinner preparations after greeting everyone else.

He still noticed how Roy kept a careful distance from his daughter and was obviously unhappy about her behaviour, but he eventually got at least somewhat distracted by whatever conversation Tim dragged him into.

Once they made their way into the dining room however, Lian’s sour mood with Roy was put on full display as she vehemently refused to sit in her regular seat between him and Jason. She was only satisfied when Roy moved to the other side of the table and Jason saw the curious and baffled looks his family was giving them. There went his hope of keeping this little drama quiet.

During dinner Lian talked with anyone except Roy and the obvious interest of the Waynes in whatever was going on between them got bigger by the minute.

When dinner was finished and the dishes cleared away Lian didn’t want to go take Titus on a walk with Damian as they usually did. Instead she stayed with Jason, practically glued to his side. Dick and Tim were giving them amused glances, while Bruce had an increasingly deep furrow between his brows that spoke of his puzzlement with Lian’s strange behaviour. Roy just seemed resigned.

Things came to a head when Roy came over to speak with Jason but their daughter placed herself deliberately between them, pushing Roy back with her tiny hands.

“No,” she exclaimed, burning gaze cast up at Roy, “stay away from Jayjay!”

Jason could feel the eyes of everyone in the room on them as Lian stood defiantly in front of her father.

“Sweetie,” Roy started in a placating tone, but she just pushed harder, stemming her entire weight against him. He finally yielded, taking a step back, and when he met Jason’s eyes Jason could easily tell how lost his boyfriend was.

“Lian, we talked about this,” Jason said, laying his hands on her shoulders to turn her around, crouching down to her level at the same time. “Your daddy didn’t do anything wrong, trust me.”

“I know what I saw,” she said, looking up at him with pure conviction.

“What did you see, Li-Li?” Dick asked.

His family could never leave a mystery unsolved, damn them. Jason could feel himself break out into a sweat and a glance up at Roy told him his boyfriend was also pretty uncomfortable right now.

“I saw daddy hurting Jayjay,” Lian said, looking up at Dick with a determined expression, “and when you see someone hurt someone else you have to stop them from doing it again.”

Jason’s heart was swelling with pride at the fierce protectiveness and care his little girl was displaying, even though it really wasn’t necessary in this case.

“Princess,” he started, but Lian wouldn’t let him finish.

“I’m not a liar,” she shouted, stomping her little foot on the ground.

“How was your dad hurting Jason?” Bruce asked.

This day was getting worse by the second. A quick glance around told Jason that his family was confused and definitely intrigued, but at least no one seemed to actually believe Roy had hurt him. Small mercies, he guessed.

Lian opened her mouth to answer but Jason quickly clapped his hand over it to stop her. He didn’t know what she would say, but it would definitely not be good for him and Roy. Instead he bit the bullet himself, hoping to keep their inevitable embarrassment to a minimum.

“Lian surprised us last night,” he said with a grimace, “…in bed.”

In the brief silence that followed his words Jason could feel a blush spread over his face, saw it mirrored on Roy’s paler skin, and determinedly avoided looking at anyone else.

Then Dick and Tim started snickering while Damian made a theatrically disgusted sound. Jason heard Bruce give a quiet “Hrrn” and when he forced himself to finally glance up, he could see his father was barely holding back a grin, amusement dancing through his eyes. Even Alfred’s lips twitched suspiciously behind his moustache and Jason just wanted the floor to open up and swallow him.

Lian meanwhile had squirmed free from his hand and was now glaring at everyone. “Why are you laughing, this is not funny,” she scolded, which only made everyone laugh harder.

“Lian, why do you think your daddy was hurting Jason?” Tim asked, barely able to stop snickering to get the words out.

Jason was going to kill him, this time for real.

“Because daddy was on top of Jayjay and Jayjay was saying ‘Please’ a lot and making sounds like people on the TV when they get punched.”

Lian’s tone was very serious but after barely a moment the whole room burst into laughter once again.

Jason sighed and met Roy’s eyes. So much for their dignity. He was sure the Queens and probably the whole Justice League would know about this in a few hours. They were going to be the laughingstock of the superhero community for weeks.

Lian was now pouting, arms crossed sulkily in front of her chest and eyes cast firmly on the floor.

“Lian, honey,” Dick said breathlessly once he managed to stop laughing, crouching down next to Jason, “your dad and Jayjay weren’t lying, he wasn’t hurting him.”

Lian gave him a sceptical look. “But-” she said, hesitating to look around at everyone. She was obviously studying them to see if Dick was telling the truth and what she saw must have convinced her, because when she looked back at him her expression had turned confused, arms uncrossing slowly from their tight hold.

“But I saw them.” She didn’t sound as convinced as before, which was a step in the right direction.

“Princess,” Jason said, turning her slightly so he could look her in the eyes, “your dad would never hurt me. Like we told you, it’s a kind of game adults play with each other. It might have looked weird to you, but trust me, it was nothing bad.”

Lian seemed to consider this for a few seconds, studying him intently, before she turned to Dick. “Is that true?”

“Completely,” Dick said and Jason was very grateful in that moment that his brother could project honesty and sincerity like no other.

Finally Lian gave a small nod, her whole body relaxing slightly. “Okay,” she said. “Didn’t look like a very fun game to me,” she commented, brow wrinkled in confusion and Jason nearly choked on his breath.

“No, probably not,” Dick said, tone greatly amused, “you might change your mind in a few years, though.”

“In _a lot_ of years,” Jason chimed in, giving his brother a jab with his elbow.

Lian just shrugged and turned around, looking up at Roy.

“Sorry I was mean to you, daddy.”

Jason could practically see Roy melt in front of him.

“It’s okay, honey,” he said, kneeling to take his little girl into his arms. “You only wanted to protect Jason, I would never be angry at you for that.”

“We can protect Jayjay together,” Lian said.

“Yeah, we will,” Roy agreed and met Jason’s eyes over Lian’s shoulder. Jason could feel his breath catch at the devotion and protectiveness that was directed at him and Jason knew he would never love anyone as much as the two people in front of him.

When Roy finally let Lian go she immediately bounded over to Damian, demanding they walk Titus now, her earlier bad mood completely gone. 

“So, you say ‘Please’ a lot,” Dick said after the kids had left, a shit-eating grin on his face.

“Fuck off, Dickface,” Jason growled, but he knew it was no use. Dick and Tim would never let this opportunity to tease him slide.

“You know,” Bruce said, and Jason buried his face in his hands. Not even his father could let this one go? “You can always bring Lian to the Manor if you two need some time for ‘adult games’.”

Jason groaned as everyone started laughing again.

**Author's Note:**

> That story will get told many times over the next few years and when someone inevitably retells it at Lian's wedding, Jason and Roy will wonder how their little girl grew up so fast.
> 
> I just love Jason, Roy and Lian as a family so much :)
> 
> If you'd like to chat, here is a link to [my Tumblr](https://sun-moon-stars-jedi.tumblr.com/).


End file.
